As a bulldozer with a mechanical lobster claw latched hold of the base of a lamp post at McCoy Stadium, Steve Healy stood by documenting it all with his iPhone and a heavy heart.
With a loud crunch, the aluminum post snapped like a twig, and fifty-foot high lights toppled into the outfield like a felled tree.
“Oh, it’s sad,” Healy said. “And it’s a shame because I didn’t think it would really have to happen.”
For 50 years, McCoy Stadium was Rhode Island’s own little version of Fenway. But the proud former home of the Paw-Sox has been derelict for five years, ever since the team finally moved to Worcester.
Pawtucket has never been the same.
During the pandemic, the stadium parking lots served as a drive-up COVID-19 testing center, a fitting metaphor in the era of social distancing. McCoy has been a gathering place for as long as most people remember.
But, without baseball, the place lost most of its magic.
The entrances to the stadium parking lots are all blocked off now. Only construction vehicles and firefighters are allowed in.
Lifelong fans pull up by the side of the road to reminisce. Others pause for a moment in the parking lot of the Right Spot Restaurant before heading over to the window to place their lunch order.
One couple in their mid-60s, who didn’t give their last name, stopped their red pickup truck on Division Street just past the outfield fence.
“It’s a sad day for Pawtucket,” said the woman, whose first name is Lynn.
Her husband, Gary, shook his head sadly. In his younger days, he used to sneak inside as a kid to play baseball. Like the Paw-Sox players themselves, he dreamt of what it would be like to be in the majors.
“I wish they could have kept them but it wasn’t in the cards. You know?” he said. “Woulda been nice.” McCoy Stadium was home to plenty of players on their way up to, or down from, the big leagues. Among them: Jim Rice, Carlton Fisk, Roger Clemons, Mo Vaughn, and Wade Boggs.
For a scrappy industrial town in the heart of Red Sox Nation, the team was the pride of Pawtucket. An accessible connection to greatness.
In 1981, during an MLB strike, Wade Boggs drove in the tying run at the bottom of the 21st inning, and the Paw-Sox played to a standstill against the Rochester Red Wings until 4:07 a.m. Easter Sunday.
At the bottom of the 32nd, after eight epic hours of baseball, the umpires finally called it for the day. The two teams came back the following week to finish the game.
That’s when the Paw-Sox finally clinched it, 5-3, with Dave Koza driving in the winning run in the bottom of the 33rd. The make-up game lasted all of 18 minutes.
Another of the recent roadside spectators this week, Jim McDonald, was in the capacity crowd that day.
“The big game was over fast, but then we got to watch the rematch right away,” he said.
Rochester won that game, 7-6, in nine innings.
For the Paw-Sox longtime owner, impresario Ben Mondor, the longest game was central to the marketing plan for 30 years. There was a shrine to the game in the grandstand, and for years they’d hand out commemorative cups on the anniversary. After all, the team had made history right here at McCoy Stadium.
Former state Sen. Betty Crowley, who fought hard to keep the team in town, noted that this past week would have been Mondor’s 100th birthday.
“I’m sure he’s rolling over in his grave to see his stadium knocked down,” she said.
For most people, the memories they associate with the stadium go far beyond baseball.
Generations of Providence parents brought their kids to see games. It was easier and more affordable than a trip up to Fenway Park. Everyone in the Quality Hill neighborhood remembers the weekly fireworks displays.
And it was the perfect spot for date night.
“One time years ago, I was on a date,” recalled Steve Healy. “My date and I, we snuck in. I got up on the mound and pretended to pitch. Pretended to catch balls in the outfield fence.”
That was more than 25 years ago.
“It was more than just the baseball games,” said Cindy Brown, who lives just up the street from the ballpark.
Her loyalty is more to her neighborhood, her memories, and the stadium, less so much to the team itself. Brown said she’s keeping an open mind about the high school Pawtucket is planning to build on the site and the new soccer stadium in another part of the town. In other words, she’s willing to change with the times.
“I guess I’ll just have to become a soccer fan,” she said.
